


Parasitic symbiosis

by DarkSilverWings



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Eddie has piercings, Everyone makes an appearance tbh - Freeform, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Light Angst, M/M, Other, kinda crack lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-08-26 02:05:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16672702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkSilverWings/pseuds/DarkSilverWings
Summary: College AU Symbrock in which Eddie takes a class called parasitology---Push and pull like the tides, symbiosis of the ocean and the sand,Our hearts are not parasitic lest they not give back to each otherAnd I know you do, love, I know you do





	Parasitic symbiosis

Symbrock

Eddie hasn’t taken a science class since high school, but he figures there’s no harm in taking a class on parasitology. Or rather, he does it just because Venom scoffs at the name, and if there’s anything he loves doing with his symbiote more than holding hands it’s annoying him. The Eddie Brock that trudges to class with a half empty Styrofoam cup in hand is missing, and in his place is a smug, cheery Eddie, skip in his step and barely containing a wide grin.

He doesn’t know a single person from this class, but he’s heard Anne’s new boyfriend is doing it for extra credit, so maybe he’ll meet him. What was his name? Tim? Jack? Ah, well. He’ll just ask later. The immediate urge to bask in Venom’s sulking is stronger than any curiosity he could possibly have anyway, and he revels in the sheet intensity of the mental pout he’s getting.

_“Eddie, you’re a journalism major, why are we doing this?”_

“Electives.”

_“No! We don’t need it! We have two extra credit classes!”_

“I _know_ , Ven. That’s why I said _elective_ and not _extra credit_.”

“ _I am not even a parasite Eddie I see no purpose at all, you’re just giving yourself more work for no reason at all._ ”

“Of course you’re not, V, of course not,” he says, ignoring the rest of that statement entirely along with the subsequent list of reasons Venom is oh-so keen to provide him with on why he shouldn’t be taking this class. A list that does nothing to deter him, and in fact even makes regret this impulsive decision even less.

And _still_ , Venom continues to shove thoughts of annoyance and no small amount of incredulity in his direction, but Eddie has no desire to acknowledge any of it. Which annoys Venom even more.

Opening the door, Eddie notices the lecture hall is only about half full. Probably expected, since it’s an optional class and only really counts as extra credit for a few science majors, but he’s still glad for it since it means he doesn’t need to be as careful about Venom physically manifesting anywhere.

He takes a seat in an empty row and puts his bag down on the one next to him just as the professor walks in. She has short hair and angular eyes that seem to catch him right as he reaches for his phone, and the high schooler in him immediately drops his hand even though she can’t possibly have seen him. Venom chuckles, slipping over his fingers and pressing into his palm as she sets up a presentation and writes down “Parasitology” in neat capital letters on the whiteboard. Eddie remembers suddenly why he had stopped taking science classes, and braces internally for a flood of terms he won’t understand.

He gets nothing of the sort.

Eddie walks out of the class impressed to no small degree and Venom being silently, begrudgingly impressed as well is sheer testament to their insanely talented professor. She’d started off with a brief introduction of herself, and Eddie notes that she is extraordinarily accomplished, and then described the subject as understanding the relationships between parasitic organisms and their hosts, along with in which fields the knowledge would be applicable. None of which have anything to do with Eddie at all.

The introductory session had coalesced to a simple study of the example of the cuckoo bird as something called a brood parasite: a parasite relying on a host species to rear it’s offspring. Even Eddie can’t claim Venom is anything like that, so ultimately it had just been a rather interesting thing to learn about cuckoos laying their eggs in other birds’ nests, and they’d both thought it awfully cruel of the baby cuckoo to push other unhatched eggs out of the nest.

Suffice to say, now it’s not just Eddie that’s interested.

Venom being Venom takes an initiative to research while Eddie is asleep and starts constantly asking questions about the intelligences of various organisms that Eddie has absolutely no clue even exist, but he really can’t be quite mad about it because of how brilliant their professor is; it makes him _want_ to know. He also learns this is universal by how diverse their class is, since a lot of people seem to know less about science than him and ask ridiculous questions; or so Venom claims them to be. (“ _Everyone knows a Siphonaptera is a flea Eddie! How can he ask that!_ ”)

It’s on the third class that he meets Dan. He comes in late, carrying a lab coat in his arms and still wearing safety goggles, and though the teacher raises her eyebrows, she simply asks ‘Mr. Lewis’ to take a seat. In his flustered state, he makes right for the seat closest to him, which happens to be just an empty seat away from Eddie. As the lecture resumes, Mr. Lewis asks him sheepishly if he can borrow his notebook. Only then does Eddie notice Venom has been writing notes for him, posing as gloves that he’ll attribute to the cold.

Mr. Lewis passes them back after a quick picture, remarks that Eddie has very pretty handwriting as he offers his hand, and says his name is Dan.

“I’m Eddie Brock”, he says, hoping Dan hadn’t noticed Venom retracting from his hand as he moves to shake Dan’s.

“No way, Eddie Brock the journalism major? Didn’t you write that article for the college magazine about- what was it again?”

“Structural integrity of the teaching system. Hey, it’s awesome that you’ve heard of me.”

“Mr. Lewis, Mr…what was it?”

“Uh, Brock, ma’am, Eddie Brock.”

“Mm. Anything you two would like to share?”

Before Eddie or Dan can answer a no, Venom starts to take over, and Eddie literally has to mentally wrestle with the moron before he asks anything stupid, but now the teacher is watching him with a raised eyebrow as he holds his arm down so he asks, “All parasites are harmful right?” _Just_ to piss Venom off. It does pay off because Venom growls “ _Shut the fuck up Eddie, you know I’m not.”_ He shoves the overly smug sentiment of having Venom admit to indirectly calling himself a parasite into their bond, and Venom balks so hard Eddie’s knee hits the chair ahead of him.

Literally every person in the room turns to look at the dumbass who just asked that question, but before the imminent desire to bury himself in the ground can set in, a girl in a row ahead of him chimes in, “Yeah, is it possible that they’re not?” Eddie notes absently that she has a sketchbook in front of her instead of a notebook, and is once again amazed.

“That, my dear students, would be a symbiote, not a parasite. Symbiotes form a mutually beneficial relationship and both benefit from the bond, but parasites only care about how the bond benefits themselves.”

Venom takes over _then_ to ask in an extraordinarily bad imitation of Eddie’s voice, “Can parasites make you climb trees really fast? Or jump fences?” And as the professor shakes her head, clearly chuckling, Venom-controlling-Eddie continues, “No? Really? Nothing even close?”

“Nothing even close, Mr. Brock,” at least she’s amused instead of annoyed.

“Huh, well how about that.” Somehow Venom is better at embarrassing them then Eddie with his unabashed lack of shame. And the teacher says to them, “Well it’d have to be a pretty stupid parasite if it’s enhancing the host instead of taking from it.”

That shuts Venom right up, and Eddie has to hold himself back from laughing by pressing his lips together so hard the ring on his lip starts to hurt, and though Dan gives him a vaguely confused look, he doesn’t actually ask what the hell Eddie is talking about, which he’s grateful for.

He knows now that this class is going to absolutely turn into a regular occurrence of Eddie and Venom asking stupid questions in turn to offend each other. He just hadn’t expected the next time to be Venom implying _Eddie_ was the parasite, “Um, if the parasite is a much more capable being than the host and the host is only able to survive say, being shot or making stupid decisions with the help of another being then isn’t the host the parasite?”

The professor stares at him for a long while, sighing deeply before answering, “Mr. Brock, even if the parasite is a far more advanced individual than it’s host, inevitably it needs the host for something and is _taking_ whatever that is from the host so no, parasites will only and always be parasites, they do what they need to, host be damned. Nature’s perfect example of survival of the fittest.”

Venom suddenly echoes a quiet, “ _oh”,_ but before Eddie can wonder about that or mentally smirk, she smiles, a clear passion shining through her eyes as she continues, “In fact, perhaps parasites are inherently superior, since they’re smart enough not to try to do everything on their own, inhabiting their hosts in ways such that the helpless host can’t quite do anything about their existence for the most part. Now that is some superiority, hm?”

Eddie has to retort, “But like, the one that’s eating on someone else’s cash and not pitching anything in on rent is totally the leach, right?” The professor genuinely laughs at that, “Roommate problems, Mr. Brock?” He rubs the back of his neck as he smiles politely, but honestly, she’s almost right. More boyfriend than roommate perhaps, despite all the bickering.

Venom seems torn between finding the term to his liking and being offended that anyone else would imply Eddie is helpless. Eddie rolls his eyes, “She wasn’t talking about me, dumbass.” But it still seeps a few strands of something Eddie can recognise as negative into their bond. Something Venom is trying to hide from him. Oh, well.

\---

Over the next few classes, he and Dan just start to sit together to exchange notes (none of which Eddie has ever taken) and occasionally so Eddie can ask questions about certain things for context since Dan is actually a medical student apparently. He never once asks why Eddie is here either, which just increases how much Eddie respects him, and they become fast friends.

Hanging out at Dan’s apartment to get help with homework, he learns that Dan wants to become a surgeon, and that he used to be a track and field athlete, which impresses both him and Venom. There are very few people Eddie talks to that _Venom_ likes, so it’s no small feat. Eddie’s lucky this class has nothing to do with his others since there’s no other way he could possibly pass off how neat his handwriting is in this one subject, or even to Dan for that matter. He notes absently as Venom writes that Dan has a very nice apartment, and that there’s a couple hair ties and sweaters lying around that absolutely don’t seem to belong to him, so Eddie wonders aloud if Dan has a partner.

The door opens exactly as he does, and _Anne_ of all people, walks in, books in hand and immediately talking about a class. She freezes when she looks up though, and Dan looks between them with his lips pursed. “I mean…I meant to tell you Eddie, Anne has mentioned you. I just…forgot?”

Anne stares, he stares back, and had they not still been friends this would’ve been the most awkward meeting possible, but since they are friends, it takes all of ten seconds before they both burst out laughing, leaving poor Dan in the most confused state possible. “Oh Dan, by ‘friend from class’ you meant _Eddie?_ ”

“So _you’re_ the partner with bad taste in sweaters!”

“Hey! I have the _best_ taste in sweaters!”

“Oh c’mon Annie, Dan has better taste in sweaters. And he wears _labcoats._ ”

That gets Dan to chuckle as well, and their parasitology homework becomes completely abandoned as they talk over cheap takeout Dan orders and yeah, Eddie doesn’t regret taking this class yet.

But this immense jackass in their class called _Carlton motherfucking Drake_ almost makes him in literally one single interaction. Carlton is a super genius, there’s been talk of him starting a company even, is literally in this class out of curiosity as he does his fucking PhD, and _everyone on campus_ knows this. He’d been the nicest person ever, it was almost surreal until he’d taken a lab class with a group doing his master’s, and _all hell_ had broken loose. The guy turned out to be like a demon, had run his lab-mates like _slaves_ \- no sleep, no slack, no imperfections; Eddie knows for a fact half of them had dropped out entirely from that class despite its high credit weight.

So in the split second he bumps into Carlton Drake outside class, followed by his asking the professor a question he doesn’t even understand, seeing the impressed look on her face drives him up a wall. _Dan_ barely understands the question, so Eddie has to bump into Carlton again after class only to say, “Did that question even have anything to do with this class?”

“Well, yes. Brock, right? You’re showing quite some interest for a journalism major,” and he flashes a vaguely sweet smile that is _so_ unsettling, his fists clench unconsciously. But he smoothes it over with the signature Eddie-Brock-smirk and a wave, “Oh I just find it interesting to learn without _showing off_ constantly. Everyone already knows I’m the best at what I do.” “ _Which isn’t even science”,_ Venom reminds, helpfully, but Venom seems to share his sentiment of disliking Carlton Drake. For whatever it’s worth, Carlton only continues to smile, moving to walk away as he says, “Wonderful,” knowing _full well_ Eddie is aware of how beyond the best Carlton is.

Thus, on one hand, Eddie and Venom share a liking for Dan and Annie, a dislike for Carlton Drake, and an open respect for their professor. Apparently, however, they still don’t share a will to stop making parasitology a class to poke at each other. Between Venom constantly asking stupid questions to make Eddie look like a fool, and Eddie asking various questions to draw parallels between Venom and some parasite or the other, he's become the class eccentric by a long jump. The professor has taken a liking to his completely nonsensical questions too, and has never once neglected to answer any of them, no matter how far fetched. In his luck, Dan, too, finds all of his questions either interesting or absolutely hysterical, and the stories they spawn in class become tales they recount to Anne complete with reactions of their impossibly confused classmates. 

The girl that draws has remarked once, "It's like you personally know a parasite, how you're so invested," and laughed, almost scaring the shit out of both Eddie and Venom. But then she slips him a remarkably gorgeous knotted bracelet and he finds the fond smile enough to give her one of his back. That keeps Venom fascinated for days, practicing the knots on the bracelet over and over on Eddie's wrist as the class goes on. There's a redhead woman with glasses that constantly looks too nervous to talk, and even she stops to remark on how interesting his questions are. And, since she apparently can see Carlton from where she sits, how much his idiotic questions annoy him to the point that he's silently snapped pencils in half just watching this nonsense be entertained. _That_ amuses Eddie so much he even encourages Venom to ask more idiotic questions. 

The only thing about this class that makes him iffy, is how jumpy Venom gets the more severe the parasite they discuss in class. Initially he'd just scoffed or been curious, but every parallel Eddie tries to draw between Venom and the parasite they're learning about somehow stirs up something Venom won't share with him. So, of course, he stops drawing the parallels. He lets his open concern seep into the bond between them, but he can't exactly drop out of the class now, so he has to let Venom talk it out with him. He has to wait.

They talk about Cymothoa exigu, the tongue-eating louse, that gets into a fish through it's gills and then eats and replaces it's tongue, and Eddie can't help thinking about how terrifying it would've been to have an entire body part replaced bit by bit without even being able to tell it was gone. He thinks about Venom's tongue in place of his own, and he shudders, though he tries to shut the thought out. Venom feels it, feels the shudder and the fear and doesn't so much as hum. The quietude he's showing is _disturbing_ , and it's not just him that notices. Dan asks if he's alright, he gets a few confused glances and even the professor glances his way like she's expecting something from him. He smiles amiably, but even tugging at the knotted bracelet they both love can't get Venom to talk to him. 

Some chocolate gets some quips out of Venom later, but Venom still remains broody and quiet about _something_ that only hits Eddie in a subsequent class about strangler figs. 

The professor's voice is clear and crisp as she explains, "The strangler fig grows around it's host tree in a vine-like manner, creating a network around the tree of it's own body." Eddie's mind screeches to a halt at that one line, and he _feels_ Venom listening, feels the control over his legs preventing him from bolting from this class before Venom can start thinking about it. 

"It consumes the nutrients of it's host, stealing both the nutrition and the body matter of the host tree in the process. " _Oh god oh god oh god_ Eddie's mind is _reeling,_ screaming at him to get out because he _knows_ how similar this is to Venom. He tries to shout but his throat closes up with something thick like sludge, and when it nudges the roof of his mouth he realises _Venom is keeping his mouth shut too_. _Unthinkingly,_ even, as a dark self depreciation Eddie recognises all too well makes itself known through their bond in his mind. 

"It may appear as though the fig is draping itself over the tree, but it is using the tree as support to grow to maturity. And, slowly, strangling the life from it's host, so to speak. Eventually, the host is unable to provide enough nutrients for itself to grow, and will die, but the fig remains. It has grown enough to survive on it's own, and this is displayed as the fig consumes whatever it can take from the dead tree within, sustaining itself with the tree's corpse till it is nothing but a husk, and eventually falls away, leaving hollow cylindrical shaped fig vines in rather spectacular patterns."

From it's _corpse,_ she said. Eddie's breath catches, it feels like he can't breathe with the sudden oppressive pain he's feeling in his chest akin to a hole being ripped through him- and he knows exactly what that feels like- but past the pain he's able to see that it's not _his_ pain. It's Venom panicking, the freak out is anything but mild and if he wasn't holding himself rigidly upright he knows he would've collapsed to his knees right there. Dan looks over, concerned, and his hand moves over Eddie's wrist as he whispers, "Are you alright, Eddie?"

He chokes out, "Y-yeah," under his breath, feels Venom bash into his ribs just as he does, and coughs so heavily the professor glances his way. "Mr. Brock, are you unwell?"

"Yeah, kinda, ma'am. Not feelin' too hot."

Carlton scoffs, the absolute asshole, but Eddie can't give second thought to it as he feels around his leg Venom forming in a similar way to the fig the professor has drawn on the board. Hollow. For a brief second, Eddie can't stop the instinctual fear, which only serves to make Venom completely hysterical. He can see _stars_ , his mind is so dazed. His vision turns fuzzy, and he blinks and swallows, slow, deliberate, but Venom doesn't calm down. His glance at the girl's sketchbook that has a strangler fig in the shape of a young man is what drives Venom so completely nuts that there's a scream in Eddie's head so loud he tries to cover his ears. 

"Perhaps you'd...like to take today off, Mr. Brock," the professor says, with no small amount of concern, and he nods, "Y-yeah prof, sounds good. I'll- uh-," he gestures vaguely at the door, and Dan makes to follow him but he waves him off heavily and says, "I'll text you," rather unconvincingly. Dan doesn't seem to buy it either, and stands up to follow him. As soon as they're out the door he clutches his head. Dan checks his forehead, and the confusion on his face is accompanied by, "Eddie, nothing seems to be wrong but I'm going to call Anne to get some stuff from the store and-"

"Thanks Dan, I just- I'll wait in my apartment, alright? You go get Anne." He needs to be alone with Venom. He _needs_ to be alone. Dan nods shakily and takes off running and Eddie collapses in the nearest alley between buildings that he finds, tearing at his chest, leaving red lines from his nails as he tries, _tries_ to get Venom to listen. "V? Ven-?" He starts, breathless and coughing for air between every syllable; he would run to his apartment but he can barely even stand up. " _Venom,_ I can't _breathe-, "_ he cuts himself off, he just _knows_ Venom will make the comparison to the strangler and maybe that's even intentional but his grip on Eddie laxes enough that he coughs and hacks, pants for air, clutching his shirt, trying to keep himself together and take slow deep breaths that'll hopefully calm the symbiote down. 

"Venom...?" he asks, shakily, sitting down, stretching his legs out and leaning his head back; trying to be relaxed enough that his emotions won't spike any of Venom's own. 

" _Eddie-! That's- I know I am but-_ "

"Hey, Ven, no-"

" _I'm trying not to be! For us! I'm trying Eddie i won't be-_ "

"V I never thought-"

" ** _But what if it happens anyway?_** "

The growing need to interrupt Venom is stopped in it's place by the staccato of the thought. Venom thinks it's possible that it's in his _nature_ to be something so toxic that it'll turn it's host into a husk, and this is absolutely not what Eddie had expected from a lesson about a damn fruit but it makes him tear up nonetheless. He pulls off a bead bracelet, counting the smooth beads one by one, unanswering to Venom's question and therefore drawing out the high-strung tension till it's slightly less likely to snap in his face. Till he can answer, "That won't happen V."

The confidence surprises even him, and Venom materialises through his shoulders to lean over him so quickly it shocks him, and the inhuman creature has never looked so real as when he's like this, panicked, leaning over Eddie like he needs comfort, slumped in shoulders only half materialised and his wide eyes and serrated nightmare of a face have never looked so terrified. Eddie smiles, reaching a hand up to touch Venom's cheek, and the teeth below his fingers feel cold, like marble. 

He tries his best soothing voice, "If something like that seems to happen, you'll feel my body dying. You'll- no, _we'll_ fix it _if_ it ever happens. I'm sure it won't."

" _We?"_

 _"_ Yeah, V, we'll fix anything that happens to us." 

" _How do you know, Eddie? How do you **know**_ _I won't kill you?"_

 _"_ I don't, V. I know you love me."

Eddie is terrified of his future, of every time Venom takes over, of the insane reality he's facing and the occasional fear of the unknown accompanying the sharing of a body with an actual alien, but somehow in this moment Venom being scared takes precedence. It shocks the fear out his system enough that he only feels calm, feels soft, and slowly he feels the panic recede to his answering love. He closes his eyes, trying to shove his emotions into their bond, clutching the beads between his fingers and feeling Venom healing the scratches on his chest. He speaks through their bond that a parasite would never mend his heart this way, never cause the warmth in his chest, never share in what he's feeling heavily enough to affect both of them,

"And I love you," he whispers, feeling Venom nudge him, the apology to his freak out, the brush of Venom's teeth to his cheek. Venom understands, he's known obviously that he's a symbiote and not a parasite, but the surge in his chest that makes him feel like his ribs will crack open is definitely not his own strength of love alone, the affection he'd thought was behind every jaunty remark now seeps into it's intended tease, into a laugh he hears, deep and soothing in his mind. He expects the tongue that swipes across his lips in some semblance of a kiss, a kind they need a thousand more of. He doesn't expect the spike in panic, and jumps up- only to realise it's Dan and Anne in the entrance of the alleyway staring at him. More specifically, at the half materialised Venom who'd jumped back into his skin. 

"Whoa- _what-,"_ Dan shakes his head, rubbing his eyes and Anne plants her feet, recovering from the drop of her jaw to demand, "What the _hell_ was that, Eddie, what is going _on."_

He'll need a while to calm Venom down fully. A while longer to convince them both parasitology is a ridiculously fun class with an amazing teacher that they're both now genuinely interested in and love. But the most fun they have is telling Anne and Dan about them, watching the fascination, the horror, slowly receding fear, and as Dan laughs, "Now I see why you take parasitology." Eddie will interrupt, "Yeah, to find out this loser is a _symbiote_ ," between a laugh and a smile at Venom. Even Venom chuckles as Anne says indignantly, "How could you even _assume_ that thing is a parasite, Dan?"

'Course it isn't. That's his boyfriend.

That he'll still call a parasite in endearment once in a while, and get called a loser in return.

**Author's Note:**

> No the prof and the girl who draws aren't in the movie.  
> Thank you for reading!  
> I hope you enjoyed it! First work I'm actually posting with these two heh, comments and kudos make my day!
> 
> I'm glasspunkart on tumblr if you wanna scream about symbrock!


End file.
